'Nua Mek' makes a messy exit

The Nation
E-mail ntsoopsip
@gmail.com January 5, 2013 1:00 am

Chatchai and Sinjai bid farewell to

Television seems in tumult lately, with the Friday-to-Sunday action series "Nua Mek 2" abruptly yanked off Channel 3 last night, two episodes ahead of schedule. There was no announcement, but a rumour of the show's imminent demise had been spreading.

"Nua Mek 2", produced by Chatchai Plengpanich and starring veterans like Pongpat Wachirabanjong and Noppon Komalakula, generated a lot of quotable lines that the social media applied to real-life Thai politics. So folks are guessing that the script must have hit too close to home for the powers-that-be.

It was Chatchai's actress-wife Sinjai who confirmed on Wednesday that "Nua Mek" was doomed. "It's clear that the soap will end on Friday," @noksinjai wrote on Instagram. She also posted a picture of a flower and captioned it: "Don't be afraid to be a good person and don't feel shy about doing good."

Finally, she said, "It doesn't matter what happens, but it matters what you guys think."

Can't touch golf

Pitsanu Nilklad has piped up about his sudden jump this week from Channel 7 to Channel 3. He said it was because Channel 7 moved the golf show that his firm Sport Tips produces to a less lucrative time slot. "I have to take care of my employees, and the new time gave us poor ratings," he tells Thai Rath.

And we thought Thai golfers preferred their programming after midnight.

But the station then told Pitsanu he'd better do something about those shoddy ratings. "And that's the main reason I moved." He handed in a resignation letter citing stress, "and no one asked me why or how? So they didn't really know the real problem."

Pitsanu, a figurehead at Channel 7 for three decades, says leaving was the biggest decision of his life. But he stresses that, technically, he's not actually moved to Channel 3. "I work closely with BEC-Tero and they produce programmes for Channel 3. Who knows? They may have programmes on other channels too." Not on Channel 7, though.